Can recovered patients testing positive again transmit virus?

Du Bin, a director at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said there is currently no evidence that patients testing positive again after recovery from the coronavirus can transmit the virus.

Tong Zhaohui, vice-president of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said patients who test positive again after recovery from the virus are not "reinfected" or "relapse". They test positive again because a few number of the virus still remain in their body when they are discharged from hospital. And it needs some time for the virus to be eradicated from the body of some patients, especially from seniors.

Recovered COVID-19 patients should be quarantined for 14 days after being discharged from hospital, according to the latest version of guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus pneumonia released by the National Health Commission.